That WAS the situation, but it's a long time ago now.
Since then, Barto's reign of terror has been brought to an end. And Messi has since appeared in PR shots with Laporta.
It was Barto was behind the transfers. The awful, awful deals. And Barto's lot ran the disgraceful campaign spreading social media slurs about Barca players. Barca was not a happy place, and it didn't take a genius to realise they'd been going backwards for some time, and the negligent approach to contracts and transfers would come back to haunt them.
That in mind, it's pretty believable that getting rid of Barto was enough to pacify him.
There'll be many, many pops at Barto until this is over. And a few at Tebas. Maybe a few more at Barca players who they want rid of. That's all totally within the norms of an operation working to keep the core Barca 'family' safe from harm and together. The one that resembles the club that was there when Messi started.
Right now Real look smug as fuck. But seriously - nah. They've likely got to get rid of something like ten players to sign anyone of note. An aging squad. Gaps in defence. Questions over finances, cash flow. That's just being kept out of view at the moment. But wait and see how this plays out.
Barca will register their players. Real won't get anyone big this year. They were Tebas s
Messi will in all probability staMessi - no exception for Messi - no exception for Haaland. If Barca can scrape through, they may indeed call that - preventing Real signing Mbappe/Haaland this year - a strategic win. And that may have the knock-on effect of making it harder for Real to secure short term investment.